Arquivo de 16 de Janeiro, 2009

If there were any doubts about the power of Twitter as a communication tool and channel for breaking news, well, yesterday they were reduced to ashes. The Hudson Plane Crash incident proved (once again) that the Twitter mojo is strong.

There are a few good reasons to have worked so well: it was a midday incident in a densely crowded city, where every inhabitant has a portable communication device (a.k.a. cellphone), and many use the blue bird channel. So, in just few minutes after the plane went down, there were dozens of common New Yorkers that witnessed the event being retweeted and publishing photographs way before the mainstream media got hold of the event. And why? The magic word here is “network”.

I knew about it through a @scobleizer tweet and almost immediatly through @breakingnewson and @fox40. The most effective at first was Robert Scoble’s tweets, that was taking advantage of his huge Twitter network for gathering information (over 20,000), and pass it on to his followers (almost 50,000). It was word of mouth at the speed of light! Among official updates, the timelines were filled with retweets for links to pictures from the scene, taken by the people on the shores of the Hudson, and on the ferries that went pick up the plane passengers!!! You just couldn’t get closer than that.

I began retweeting all the information available as soon as it happened, and put my network up to speed on the event. And I was across the ocean, in my living room. Some used that effort of mine (and others) very well, like the portuguese public television news cable channel – RTPN – that has a great Twitter presence. On a late night schedule, they turned to their network to provide them with pictures, video and maps of the crash. By crowdsourcing that work, they went beyond the live streams of distant shots of the airplane in the water surrounded by ferries. They quickly found pictures and other visual data to show on air, as the situation unfolded. And it all only took one hour from beggining to end.

My small part delivering the information to my network, and through it, to all the networks that each one of them encompasses, got me thinking about a few items on my “Changes in Journalist’s Role” list:

4-A journalist must network.

It had to before, but there were geographical limitations, social and economical factors , and a whole sort of real world constraints. Online, the limit is in the number and the value of the contacts one has.(…)

Or even better: there will be more traffic cops than private investigators.. .I’m sorry to destroy a romantic image of journalism, but there will be less Humphrey Bogarts, the rise in the volume of information will demand for more traffic managers. Their role will be essential to guide the masses in the search for information.(…)

It was an excellent opportunity to apply Paul Bradshaw’s breaking news model. And another thought: we must be aware of all the ways we can present information on the fly, and have improvisation skills. Do you like Jazz? Start playing it. Robert Scoble tweeted just now -as i write this- he should have done things differently yesterday. Soon there will be another chance to test other ways to deliver and connect the dots of data.

This was a great experience, for two reasons: thanks to the pilot’s skills no one was really harmed in the crash, and it was professionally challenging and compensating for me. I’m not working for anyone nowadays , but i acted as a journalist for my network, which is my primary audience. My work was praised, and i got new followers. And most of all, i had a lot of fun.